We woke up and were able to see our surroundings today in the light. We are across the street from water, which isn't hard to do here! Jon spotted this huge pigeon in the just beginning to flower bush outside our window.
Today we drove over to the ferry and rode it to the Aran Islands, the Isle of Inishmore, to be exact! The ferry was kind of crazy. The sea was a little angry today, with rain and clouds, and we bobbed all over the place! The ferry took about an hour or so, and of course I dozed, because I'm always dozing these days.
When we got there it was raining, and the forecast was for rain all day. We quickly realized that if we were going to wander around on rented bikes until the evening ferry out, we were going to need to be a little more fortified against the weather. We headed into the little grocery store on the island, which was almost like a mini Walmart, it had everything. We found some gloves, some hats, and Jon had the bright idea of waterproofing our hands with plastic dish gloves under the knit ones! We got all kitted out and headed to the bike rental. There were very few people out and about, and we quickly got our bikes. As Jon took off his gloves to pay the bike rental man asked if he was wearing dish gloves, and Jon gleefully said yes and explained why. The guy was pretty tickled, said he'd never seen that before, but that it was a good idea!
We began our bike trek west across the island, and we were just stunned by the beauty. A cloudy drizzly day, green pastures, cute little cows, sheep, and horses.
This was our first real opportunity to see the stone walls up close. They are all over Ireland, used to keep animals where they should be, and they are called drywalling. Just simple stacks of rocks, no mortar, piled up with shorter areas for the farmers to move when it was time to move the animals. They criss cross the landscape everywhere, and most look to have been there for hundreds of years or more.
I had been a little skeptical of the biking thing...it's been a while since I've been on my bike for more than a little neighborhood jaunt with the girls, and they didn't have helmets! I had nothing to fear, though. You really don't forget! Most of the ride out west was flat and in fact much downhill, which worried me for the return trip to the ferry!
There are ruins everywhere here. Not just on this island, but all over as we've traveled these last couple days. They are apparently a very superstitious bunch, and believe that it's bad luck to take stones from existing structures, so they remain relatively untouched for centuries, their only wear the weather and time. We are of course the beneficiaries as we can see all these cool old building remains!!
Jon made some friends on the ride west.
This shot is of a seal colony that lives here on the island, but we could only see a couple, and we didn't think we quite had the time to wander down closer.
We made it out to the Seven Churches at the west end of the island. This picture was not taken by us, we found it online, but it's a really great view of the area. You can see the main building, and several others, as well as the burial plots.
The big building is very much still intact aside from the roof, which was probably thatch. The arches and rocks are still very well put together.
They estimate this church was built somewhere around 700 AD, when the people who would have worshipped here wouldn't have even been Christian. That influence would come later as people arrived here. The graves were interesting, too. Most were very old ones indeed, but there were also much more recent graves, within the last 50 years or so. We wondered what kind of influence or clout your family would have to have to be buried on such a site!
We began biking back, and of course, biking back was more uphill than biking out, and I started to get a bit tired. Luckily there was a stop on the way. We headed over to Dun Aonghasa, which I was entirely unprepared for! Jon did much of the research for this trip, and his talking about a cliff fort just didn't prepare me for what it actually was!
Literally at the edge of a 300 foot cliff straight down to the sea, is a giant 14 acre ancient fort, dating starting somewhere around 1500 -1100 BC. There are three terraced walls in a semi circle with the rest open to the cliff. There are remnants of structures, and many artifacts found that indicate that people lived right up here at the top. Can you imagine having small children living mere yards away from a 300 foot drop into the sea crashing against rocks??
The Irish don't really believe in coddling...there were no fences, no barriers to the cliff. There were warnings, but that's all you get, so if you're stupid, they just expect that you'll go over the edge and the world just might benefit from a reduction in stupid! The United States is totally different, but we are also a much more litigious society. People in the US who violate common sense somehow win cases...that just wouldn't fly here. It's a cliff. Don't do anything stupid. Being US tourists, however, meant we had to get some scary pictures! If you look closely, that's Jon carefully peering over the edge.
I snagged this picture over the edge...it really doesn't quite show the sheerness, and the distance, but it was the best I could do without Jon getting really antsy with how close I was to the edge!
He snapped a picture of me while I was taking mine. It really is spectacular. The waves just smash against the rocks at the bottom. If you fell, not only is the water cold, but you'd just get dashed by the force of the sea.
The platform here in the inner semi circle wall was fascinating. Very flat, and you can see how it would have been a more easily defended spot.
It is just wild to feel out on the edge of creation here. In the distance is just sea and horizon. It makes you feel pretty insignificant!
This cliff extends along a giant stretch of the island...much further on both sides than the fort itself. Just simply gorgeous. The weather added to the allure, making the rock and sea look darker and the misty air was just classic.
Outside the outer wall, there were these walls of rocks, but they were sharp, pointed up, and extensive. We figured they were for defense, and it turns out we were correct and they are called Chevaux de Frise, and date from somewhere around 700 BC.
The wind was strong up here, and it's likely strong pretty much all the time being up so high right off the sea. The long grasses that grow between some of the outer walls shows a lot of indication that the wind is just part of the deal up here.
The views of the island from the back of the fort are also beautiful. The elevation gain is probably somewhere around 300 feet, as the other side of the island is pretty much sea level. But it's just enough to first, be a superior defensive position, and second an excellent view!
The close up of the flat rock in the center shows how interesting its wear is. Lots of pits and holes, long straight lines where it wears differently.
After we were finished at Dun Aonghasa, it was a bit of a tight squeeze to make it back to the ferry. We hadn't paid close attention to how long it had taken us to get anywhere, so I got a little worried we wouldn't make it back, and added to the stress of bike riding and being hungry, I didn't have the best attitude on the way back, and was so glad to see the ferry hadn't left when we finally made it back to the little village, and we even had enough time to grab some snacks for the ride back at the little grocery store.
This was such a beautiful day, and our gloves and hats worked so well to keep us warm. I haven't ridden a bike in years, so this was pretty fun to spend all day on one. And it was a great way to really see the island. One thing we noticed was all the bed and breakfasts, even here on this kind of secluded island. We have seen them all over already, and while Costco wouldn't have given us deals on bed and breakfasts, it would be fun to do it differently on another trip.
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